Here's to our Future
by Phantasm1313
Summary: It's been way too long since they last saw each other. Now Yuuki is coming over to visit, and Chizuru hits the panic button... Can he make a future with her out of their past? Fem!Yuuki


Soiled clothes are tossed frantically into a hamper, Chizuru trying to clean up as fast as humanly possible before Yuuki's arrival. It'd been such a long time since he'd seen her! He imagined Yuuki stepping into his cramped and somewhat smelly apartment, slipping on trash, and then being carried out by paramedics. No way had he wanted that! Clean dishes hastily put into the cupboard; vacuum racing across the carpeted floor...Chizuru's life had been as big a mess as his home.

After high school, he gathered up all his courage and confessed to Masaki ... Only to get shot down, of course. What else could he expect? She liked Shun and nobody else. It certainly didn't help his inner insecurities that she pulled a "Kaname" and called him a monkey!

But all that was in the past, he hoped. Now he could get on with his life and possibly make it a bit better. The apartment now presentable, he sat down on the couch and sighed deeply. It was hard to be his regular energetic self after all that cleaning! It wasn't something he was too fond of.

What could he talk to Yuuki about? Too long had passed without him seeing her and the others. Shun he saw frequently, though. Much more than he liked, and whenever he saw him he wished he hadn't.

Before he could think much more about it, there was a quiet knock at the door. Chizuru actually did not hear it the first time, and heard it the second time around by craning his neck towards the door. He let out an embarrassing squeak from the terror of keeping her waiting, and practically flung himself over the couch and to the door.

The door had been left unlocked, however, and Yuuki let herself in just in time to see him jump off the couch. Chizuru would have liked to restart that whole scene … Maybe if things had happened a bit differently he wouldn't have ended up so flustered.

"Yuuki-chan~!" he sang, taking her by the wrist and situating her in the living room. Her eyes scanned across the room like a metal detector, searching for any potential hazards to her safety. When the scan was complete, she took her purse off of her lap and placed it on the floor, getting comfortable on the cushions.

"When you called me, I was so happy that you'd come visit! I mean, nobody EVER comes over to see me. I guess they can't handle my coolness. Oh, but you can, obviously, because you're here," Chizuru babbled, face hot and hands spastic as he sat opposite of her. "Did you visit town 'cuz you miss me?" he dared to say, leaning slightly forward anxiously.

Yuuki said, "I stopped by because there's an anime convention in town. Then I decided to come say hello." Chizuru pouted playfully, but he felt saddened by her words. She hadn't really come just to see him? Aw…

"But I thought you just wanted to see _me_," he whined, a smile in place. Yuuki stayed silent. And now Chizuru was left without anything of substance to say, so he blurted out his next words in a spur of the moment, "Have you eaten food today? I have some, if you want!"

He'd spoken so loudly for that for an instant Yuuki twitched in her seat. "Okay," she replied, looking towards Chizuru's makeshift kitchen. It was even smaller than the "living room" and contained only a microwave and a small fridge.

Chizuru ran to the kitchen and pulled out a small plastic tray covered in a protective wrap. When he held it out in her direction, she looked a bit shocked. "A TV dinner?" she asked, incredulously. She immediately thought that he must be a confirmed bachelor, just like the guy in her favorite anime.

"Uh, yeah! If you want something else, I could go out and get it, yanno, just pop by the store really super fast…" She shook her head and got up, taking a chopstick and poking holes in the cover, sticking the TV dinner in the microwave.

"How long do I leave it in?"

"About 7 minutes," he replied, nerves making him suddenly very itchy everywhere. Resisting the urge to scratch at himself like a flea-bitten dog, he leaned over Yuuki and input seven minutes into the timer. She swatted his hand away and pressed the "start" button herself.

And now they had nothing to talk about for seven minutes. Chizuru figured he'd get a moment to organize his thoughts while she ate, but for now he had to come up with something again, and quick!

"So," stalled the guy, leaning up against the fridge, "Have you heard from Shun-chan lately?" The minute those words flew out of his mouth he'd wanted to die. Why would his mind bring up SHUN, of all things?! All those commercials were really messing up Chizuru's mind…

"Not directly, but I think he's a Dolce & Gabbana model, though." Yuuki said it without the least bit of embarrassment, while Chizuru's face lit up bright red at the thought of those shirtless commercials about perfume and stuff. "I think I always knew something like that would happen, actually."

"I wish they wouldn't show him so much on TV," moaned Chizuru, bringing his hands up to his face to cover it. "It'll be hard for me to talk to him normally!" Yuuki smiled softly when his face was covered and rested her weight against the kitchen counter. Chizuru hadn't changed much during all this time.

"And did you see that necklace he was wearing? Oh my god, I need to wash out my brain …!" Then, his hands dropped to his sides and he grinned at Yuuki, making her gaze questioningly at him.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I just reminded myself of an important question! Do you think I should pierce my other ear?" he asked, taking the bare earlobe between two of his fingers.

With a sense of finality, she said, "No."

And then his pout returned, this time a real one. "Why not?" whined the over-grown child. He cradled his ears protectively with his palms, bottom lip jutting out and eyes pleading.

"Earrings make guys look like girls," she said, and Chizuru felt as though a stake had been wedged into his heart. He'd have to get rid of it if he wanted to make her happy, even though it was one of his favorite things about himself…

For her he'd do it (maybe). "Fine, fine, I get the point," he relented, loosening his pouty facial expression and sighing. Cue another silence... Then, thankfully, the microwave made a beeping noise!

Within seconds Chizuru had pounced on the TV dinner and was ripping off the covering, thick white steam floating out and harassing his face with its warmth. It was super hot, and Chizuru's fingers had turned red from touching it without protection. He bit back a shout, though, and grinned rigidly at Yuuki. She took the edges of her shirt and used them to hold the tray.

He quickly took the chopsticks from earlier and placed them in the food, giving her yet another odd smile to hide the minor burns. She sat down at the couch and began to eat. While she was occupied, he figured out what else he could talk to her about… it was something fairly obvious, and he was surprised that he hadn't come up with it sooner!

Yuuki finished within a few minutes and took it back to the "kitchen", placing the tray in the garbage bag that hung from one of the cabinet handles. From the other room he asked, rather loudly, "How's Yutan doing?"

"He's fine," she said, tone not betraying any emotion. That was a bit odd; after all, she really did love her brother. So he prodded a bit more by asking another question, "I bet you guys still do everything together, huh?" Then he sat down on same couch as her, but keeping his distance.

She tilted her face downwards and averted Chizuru's eyes when she said, "No. He got married." There was sadness in her voice that could not be easily concealed. He understood immediately what she felt- it was being separated from the person you'd spent your whole life with!

Chizuru didn't really have anything in his life like that, but he hoped to spend lots of time with Yuuki in the future… maybe marriage, too? His face burned bright red. How pathetic, he thought embarrassedly, I'm getting so ahead of myself! "W-why haven't you g-gotten married yet, o-or something?" he asked Yuuki nervously. The trembling of his voice was so unmanly and unawesome, but there was no way to take it back now.

She raised her head and gave Chizuru an odd look. "Dating is too much effort." He remembered when they'd tried to find Yuuki a club to join, and how lazy she'd been the entire time. He smiled fondly to himself privately, but not enough for her not to notice.

"Dating would be easier if you knew the guy already," he responded casually, before realizing what it sounded like he was implying. At that moment, he wanted both extremes: For her to completely ignore what he said and for her to understand the implication. His head felt like it was on fire. Think before you speak, he internally screamed, or else you get stuck in these kinds of situations!

Meanwhile, in contrast to the cacophony of noise inside of his head, Yuuki was deathly silent. She seemed to be weighing his words by the furrowing of her brows. Then, finally, she gave a vague, "If you say so," and stood up.

Chizuru panicked. Had he messed up so bad that now she wants to leave?! "The convention starts tomorrow," she said, picking up her purse.

"Maybe you'd like to come with me."


End file.
